The Wonder of Snails

We get a lot of snails in my yard. And all summer long I had been cursing those little, slimy creatures because they love to eat the vegetables in my garden. But I've found a new appreciation for them since school started. The kids started finding snails outside on the very first day of school, and their interest has only continued to grow since then.

Whenever the children found a snail, they would usually move it to the porch to take a closer look.

Often they would bring water over to it, or other natural materials like grass or leaves...or a stray seashell.

One day, the morning class found a group of snails by the sandbox, and we used the empty water table to observe them. Then they proceeded to bring sand and water over to the table for the snails.

The afternoon class noticed the table, with only a few snails left, and decided to create a new home for them, saying, "they'll love it so much, they'll never want to leave!" They gathered materials from the yard, including some discarded produce as "snail snacks."

After that day when all the students became engaged in one way or another with the snails, I decided to start adding some snail exploration activities into our day to support their interest. I started off with a simple shelf of materials,

that later evolved into an entire table.

In the middle of the table, you can see the little snail habitat the students helped to create to observe one pet snail in the classroom.

 Then we let the little guy go free.

After reading that snails like damp and cool places, to avoid drying out in the sun, the children also set out to create a shady habitat for them outside. We built it near the sandbox, since they found a lot of snails in that area before.

It started out small, and continued to grow and evolve as the days went by.

And any time a snail was found, it was usually placed right into the habitat.

Some children still check to see if they can find snails there right when they go outside.
And some children have become pretty attached to these little friends.  :)

These snails are probably getting more attention and excitement than they ever wanted...

More on our snail activities in the classroom coming up next!